oh my so busy!

By busy, I don't mean I am overwhelmed with stuff to do.  But rather, my discovery of the pattern I was planning on using for a baby quilt I was putting together was a little...well.. overwhelming.  (And that is probably understating it).  Look at this time, WOW!

So my original thought was to alternate blocks of owls with 2x2 blocks with fun critter stuff.  It looked cute, and was turning out awesome in my head.  And then....the above picture happened.  All I had to say was WOW!

Something had to change.  Sashing was added, border around the entire project and waaa-lahh!  The new updated top.  Not nearly as nauseating as the original plan.

For the back, I thought I would use (and almost use up) the adorable clothesline flannel fabric that my husband picked out couple of years ago.  I love using flannel with kids blankets, just so soft!  I had to keep testing the fabric to make sure it was just as soft as it should be (and don't worry!  it is)

So this little baby quilt is finished, and went to its new home Sunday.  I hope the new little one loves this quilt and all the cuddly goodness it has to offer.

Overall, this was a good learning experience and now I appreciate solids a lot more.  morale of this quilt, don't underestimate the importance of some good solids mixed into your quilts.  :)

realizations

Finally basted this UFO today.  If I remember correctly, I sewed this bad boy together MONTHS ago, but never got around to basting it.  While I was basting it, I realized all the flaws throughout the top.  Squares not matching up perfectly, errors here and there.  And then I realized something, I have learned a whole lot in the last few months!  I am shocked by all I have learned, and the little things I have learned to get my corners to line up better (I am not perfect with this by any account, but I have improved)

So here is the basted quilt that I will be finishing this week.  I have a learned a lot since sewing this colorful top together, and this quilt will be a great reminder on how far I have come and how much further I yet to go.

Labels- it really is the little things

So I have dreamt about having labels in past for my quilts, but thought, eh, whatever.  After making a friend a quilt, she finally convinced me that "yes, I need labels now"  So I went home, uploaded the file my Husband made for a future label, and bought some labels from Spoonflower.com.  You can even design your own fabric on this site.  HOW COOL!

About 10 days later, they arrived and my first thoughts after ripping the package open was "THEY LOOK AWESOME!"    I love the little details, but yet the simplicity.

So I sewed one of these awesome labels on a quilt I finished, and um, yes, they are even better than AWESOME!  So yes I am quite excited about them.    And now I am thinking that a fat quarter may not be enough, I want to put them on everything!

I just want to add, Thank you Spoonflower for giving me this joy of something so simple as my labels.  :)  And thank you to my Husband for designing the label.

Carpenter Star- yes I love!

Oh my, when I first saw the carpenter star I was in love.  And now that I have pieced together one, I AM SO IN LOVE (Don't worry Steve, I still love you!)


Love the simplicity yet character of the pattern.  You could make many small ones and piece them together, or just make one giant one!  So  I drew up a chart of piecing it together on graph paper (figured this was the safest route for my sanity after trying to just do something out of my head it drove me nuts!).I knew the general colors I wanted so I colored it in to help with laying it out.

 I will admit that I ended up going with blue where the yellow is on the chart and yellow where the blue is on the chart, which really gave my brain some exercise  :)


Figured out how many HST I would need (16 in each color combo) and 16 solid and went to work cutting yesterday.  And of course I used the new awesome method at making HST!

Today I laid the pattern out on the bed and then started piecing it together section by section.

I was very concerned that the blue would make it look psychadelic, but it def does not. I love it.  Now to finish it off with some awesome trim and quilt it out.  Can't wait to see the final product on this one.

linking up to work in progress wednesday

you can also follow me Lisa at Bound with Stitches by Lisa on the Facebook  :)  ( I am anxiously waiting for Kate to make her page possibly  :)  )

time of finishing

I have been working hard to finish the 5+ quilts I have started, figuring that having that many UFO's don't cuddle as well as their finished counterparts  :)

In the last 2 weeks I have managed to finish 3.

One a simple 9 patch pattern with awesome bright happy colors that I gifted to my good friend since it matches her happy personality perfectly  :)  I have heard this quilt has become a good companion for her while she unwinds and reads a book after her little one has gone to bed.

Then I started on quilting out the navy blue and white block pattern that I actually started with Kate!  Took me a while to finish it (kept getting distracted making all the fun quilt tops!), but finally it has graduated from UFO to finished project.

I love the simplicity of this quilt, yet provides color to accent a room if you wanted. It continues with my love of being a little scrappy so each color has a little depth.  And the best part, 100% cotton batting to help you keep warm and cuddle up  :)

Finally I finished a slanted diagonal pattern quilt. I will admit, this is one of my favorites I have completed in a while.  This quilt uses one of my favorite blocks, the HST!  And now thanks to the new way to making HST, it goes even quicker! (please see earlier post titled).    I was hoping to finish this teal yellow beauty up so it could be used in our engagement photos, but my allergies had other thoughts that day.

All the quilts I worked on my wandering free motion quilting.  I absolutely love quilting that way because it is like a constant puzzle, adds great detail to the quilt and frankly, is just a lot of fun to do.

All quilts are perfect for cuddling up on the couch watching tv or reading a good book.  Or my pups would say are perfect for making into a soft bed to rest their heads.

Texas- the mighty flag quilt

I recently saw a quilt online that was a scrappy Texas quilt.  LOVED IT!  Not for me though, I am partial to the great mitten state.  But for a friend from Texas, I knew it was perfect.

And her bridal shower was just 2 weeks away.  PERFECT!

So I got busy working with the final dimensions of this great quilt being 50 inches by 70 inches.  The red and white sections are each 25 inch by 30 inch.  The blue section is 50inch by 40 inch.  All squares were initially 5.5 inches, which means in the end, each square is 5 inches. I went for a scrappy look to help give the quilt more dimension.

I tried out spray basting on this beauty. And I AM A FAN!!!  I don't think I will ever go back to pin basting again!  I think spray baste cut down on time by 50-75%.

I also learned how to applique with the star. I found a simple star pattern online, traced it onto a piece of fabric I heated some stabilizer onto.  Then I sewed it onto the top piece.

The back I kept simple with a nice red fabric.

I free motion quilted this one.  I still need a lot of work with my FMQ but I love it.  So quick and beautiful!

And I think my friend who received this quilt loved it!  :)  That is the best part!

HST-chevron

Thanks to Kate, I have discovered an entire pin on Pinterest on different ways to organize HST to make fun looking patterns.  And who can deny an awesome chevron pattern???

For the project, I used material I cut previously to make a rag quilt, then decided after cutting all this fabric that I really did not feel like all that tedious cutting at the end; especially after just finishing 2 other rag quilts. Plus, I wanted to try my hand at free motion quilting.  :)

I made this quilt more of toddler size for a late baby gift for a friend of mine, which I heard once her daughter received this quilt she loved it, and was dragging it around the house.  Nothing makes you feel better than knowing of your creations makes someone smile.  :)

This was my first attempt at free motion quilting. I think it turned out okay.  Have to admit, I am kind of digging the FMQ.  It is like a puzzle as you are finishing your quilt!

 

rag time

For some reason, any time I sew, I end up hearing my pup Dexter, talking to me and trying to get me to stop sewing.  And when I say talking, it really sounds like he is trying to convey a message to me, and no barks are included.  Always brings a smile to my face and makes me laugh.  But really, who could deny this face some attention??  :)

Part of my to do list this year, is making some baby quilts (well toddler quilts) for a couple of friends that recently had little ones in the last year or two. I thought a rag quilt would be a cute quilt, filled with fun fabric.

  I used regular cotton on the top and flannel on the bottom for coziness.

And one of the best parts of rag quilts is that over time, they get cuter, as they get more and more raggity.  :)

Linking up to Finish it up Friday!

BOM 3- teal and orange

About a month ago I joined this block of the month group on facebook and I made my first block (which was block #3).  I loved the end result, that I just took off making a few of them, wanting to see what a few of these lovely blocks linked together would look like.

After making a few, I stepped back and examined them.  My first thoughts, "wow this is going to be a bright quilt.  Hope it won't hurt your eyes and glow in the dark."  And then I thought " this is going to be a bright quilt- and definately makes you smile!" So I kept going, and 30 squares later, some 400+ HST, I have all the blocks done.  :)

Now the question is, how should I lay out the quilt top??  this block is so much fun because it has so many options!  So, what is your thoughts??

option 1?

option 2?

option 3?

option 4?  

or option 5?

What do you think???

gray HST- gosh I really love HST!

HST, one of my favorite kind of quilts.  This one I got the idea off of on Pinterest.  Saw it, and decided I need to try to make it.  So I grabbed some random bright fabric and went to making HST with dark gray for contrast.

Then I started working on the layout.  I did this one in chunks to help keep everything lined up and try to keep my sanity.  After staring it for a long period of time I would get a little dizzy.  :)

But in the end, I think the top ended up looking great!

Linking up to http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/ for finish it up Friday!
and linking up to Richard and Tanya Quilts for Link a Finish Friday  

sew 2 large get 4 small HST

So I recently joined a block of the month club on facebook where I learned to make this beautiful block!

Along with learning the pattern for this block I also learned an excellent trick for making HST quickly.

This pattern required 4.5 inch HST.  For this technique, you take two 7-inch squares and sew a 1/4 inch stitch around all four corners.

And after sewing a bunch of 7-inch squares together, you end up with a nice stack of sewed together squares.

Now you cut in half diagonally

then cut each half into half again

Which results with each 7-inch sewn together square as 4 4.5-inch HST!!!

Yes, my mind was blown after learning about this (after a soccer game of all things!)

My world of HST is now changed forever!

Thank you Quilting Bee!  :)

stormy night

So what else should I do on a stormy night other than sew??  I will have to say my pup, Draco, had other ideas, like cuddling him and saving him from thunder.  But at least he curled up under my sewing table (taking up my foot room) while I finished up the top of a fun block quilt I started.

My inspiration for this quilt actually came from the fact I had a ton of 4.5 inch squares left over from a project I was going to do, then changed my pattern at last minute.  I don't regret the change, now I have a new challenge of using up all these 4.5 squares (in cotton and flannel!)

After working on some HST quilts, I wanted to do something less complicated and yet bright and fun. So I ended up putting these pieces together for a nice lap size quilt once it is finished.

Looks like more storms tonight and tomorrow, so perhaps I will get some more much needed sewing done!